PARENTS and pupils are on song in their bid to save a small community school from closure.

Campaigners fighting to save Ponthir Primary School have recorded a CD of songs which they plan to sell to raise money for their closure-threatened school.

The CD has two tracks: Learning in a Small School is Such Good Fun, performed by the pupils, and Don't Let Them Grind You Down, performed by the parents.

Cash raised from sales of the CD will aid the campaign against the proposed closure.

Torfaen council has earmarked Ponthir for closure, along with Brookfield Primary School in Cwmbran and Pentwyn Primary School in Abersychan, because of a surplus of places in the primary sector.

Ponthir head teacher Val Baker, who wrote the first track, said: "We had a group of professionals bring their recording equipment into school to make the CD.

"Not only was it exciting for the children to make their own record but it was an interesting learning experience for them. "They saw how a recording session works. They thoroughly enjoyed their day and feel proud of themselves."

The idea came from parent Mike Holcombe, whose seven-year-old daughter Ellisanne is a pupil at Ponthir.

Musician Mike, who tours with cover band the Bandit Beatles, put music to lyrics sent to the group by school governor Mike Humphries.

Mr Holcombe said: "Mike Humphries sent us the lyrics, Don't Let Them Grind You Down by American singer Ethan Daniel Davidson, to keep us going. I thought it would be good to put it to music and record it."

Bandit Beatles manager Colin Smith helped Mike record the track at Songquest studios in Magor, before taking his equipment to Ponthir school to record Mrs Baker's track with the pupils.

Mr Holcombe said: "This is purely a fundraising exercise. We are determined to fight against the closure, which is being done for all the wrong reasons. But our fight could cost us a lot of money, so we need to raise funds."

The CD will be released next week. We will print details of how much it costs and where it can be bought.